Chapeau! Tall Club Socks

The Cheapeau! Tall Club Socks provide an understated cool that will match any wardrobe. They offer style at a great pricepoint and perform well.

Sometimes, less is more. And that's exactly what Chapeau! has gone for with its Club sock. Stepping away from the trend for ultra-vibrant and blinding sock patterns, the UK brand's newest sock is simple and classy. Plain black, except for a white strip running up the heel, with a black exclamation mark (the brand logo) within it. The sock offers a nice simplicity and balance that works with any shoes, any frame, any jersey. The cuff length is great, sizing up in the now de-rigueur 'tall but not too tall' category.

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The socks offer some good technical features, too. The fabric is a fast-wicking mixture of 50% Polyamide, 45% Coolmax and 5% Elastane. Coolmax is designed to wick sweat off the skin and prevent clammy feet, and on a few longer rides in the mid-June sunshine, the socks achieved this very well, keeping me cool and clean feeling. The material is also nice and thin, so, along with the technical wicking of sweat, they just feel nice and cool and light to wear.

It's a nice touch that the sole of the sock is slightly thicker than the remainder of the garment. This meant that the base of my foot felt well cushioned on the very stiff carbon soles of my shoes after a few hours of riding. One thing that would be nice to have which the sock does lack is an extra compressive band around the arch of the foot. This is by no means essential, but many socks do have this feature, and it adds a nice feel of stability to the midfoot and promotes bloodflow. Not a biggie, though, and a bit of a marginal gain, so I'm not getting my bibs in a twist about it.

I've washed the socks three times now, each time at 30 degrees. The website states that 40 degree washes are fine, but I always tend to wash my cycling kit together, and it always goes in at 30 to be safe. After washing there's no sign of fade in the black material, and no stitching has come loose, both of which suggests a quality construction.

One of the great things about the socks is the pricepoint; okay, at £9.99, they aren't cheap, but they are towards the lower end of the sock spectrum. It seems that £12-15 is the norm for cycling socks, such as £14 for these well reviewed Assos socks or the (more snazzily styled) Endura socks I reviewed recently, at £12.99. I've seen some pairs of socks coming in at over £15, so to pay £9.99 for these solidly performing Chapeau! socks almost feels like a bargain (though less so when you compare them with the £6.99 road.cc Argyle socks).

So, all in, I'd highly recommend these socks. For an OK price you're getting a nicely designed garment that performs well. The lack of compression is the only minor point that perhaps prevents the socks from entering the upper echelons of 'A Race' socks, leaving them in the drawer of your more 'everyday riding and training' kit. This really is a minor point, though, and the socks are a more than worthy addition to any wardrobe.

Verdict

Top notch socks that will fit nicely in anyone's collection, though they may not quite make your Sunday best